Wings of Love
by Spot an Appaloosa
Summary: Kim is living a normal teenage life, with not much to worry about more than school, friends and boys... The thought of fate having something more in store for her had never really crossed her mind. That she was part of an old prophecy, a curse if you like, that must never be allowed to be fulfilled, seemed kind of farfetched... (Kick)
1. Prologue

**AN/ Hi. so this is my new story... For all of you who has read my first story Truth and Denial I can tell you that this one is very different as you'll find out already after this prologue...**

**I don't know how I came up with this idea...At first I thought it was really strange, but the more I thought about it and made up a plot the better it seemed to be and I was pretty excited to start writing on it. So here it is...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin it. **

**And Yes this is a Kickin it fanfiction even though this prologe can be slightly confusing...**

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**Wings of love**

_Prologue_

_It was dark, causing the powerful wind that blew outside to seem even more unpredictable. The long branches of the trees whipped against the window, overpowering the sound of the rain, pouring down._

_She shuddered in delight. The weather was in her favor. It was critical that she wouldn't be interrupted once she started and no one would dare to go outside in a storm like this._

_She had worked so hard and so long for this moment and her last worries of someone finding her were drained in the hauling of the wind. Nothing was going to stop her now. With a satisfied smirk she turned her ice like eyes towards the nine teens lying motionless on the wooden floor. She had placed them in row, next to each other, their heads pointing north and their feet pointing south. They looked as if they were sleeping peacefully, still unknown to the terrible fate that awaited them._

_It hadn't been easy to collect them all without anyone noticing her and it was a miracle that no one had found her yet. She knew that it was only a matter of time before someone down in the village figured out she was responsible for the disappearance of their sons and daughters. But after tonight it wouldn't matter if they found her, because after tonight she would be unstoppable. Eternal youth and vitality would flow in her veins and she would never die…_

_Letting forbidden curses roll off her tongue, she gracefully made it over to the cauldron that was boiling over the fireplace. The long dress she wore swiftly moved around her legs as she walked. With long lean fingers she tucked her blond hair behind her ear to keep it away from her vision as she leaned over the cauldron._

_Even though you could clearly see the age in her face she was still beautiful. Never taking her eyes off the potion, she let her fingers travel to her belt, gripping a handle. Slowly she pulled on it, revealing a silver dagger. Still whispering words that are too dark to retell, she dipped the dagger into the cauldron. The blade changed colour and became pitch black as it soaked in the potion. Her smirk got even bigger. She had waited so long for this._

_She brought the dagger up again. Holding it slightly above her head, she opened her mouth and let the potion drip from it and land on her tongue. A burning sensation filled her mouth and throat immediately. Ignoring the pain she walked over to the first teen in line. It was a boy, around seventeen she'd guessed. Not a child anymore, but still not fully a man…_

_She kneeled down beside him before taking one last glance out the window. The moon was hard to see, if not impossible through the thick clouds that covered the sky. It didn't matter though. She knew that the time was right. She could feel it._

_Turning her attention back to the boy again, she gripped the worn jacket he wore and moved it a little, exposing his chest. Her hand tightened its grip of the dagger as she raised it in the air. The black blade shimmered in the dim light from the fireplace for a second before she forced it down, stabbing her victim right through his heart…_

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**That was it, the shortest chapter I've ever written...The chapters will be longer from now on, although I'm trying to keep this story pretty short...**

**Please let me know what you think. The next chapter will be up pretty soon, today or tomorrow already, if there is someone who wants to read it...(which I only get to know if you review...) hehe**

**/MJ**


	2. My weird Aunt Claire

**Ok so I got some reviews and even some added this story to their alerts and favorites, which is clearly enough for me to upload the next chapter:) I honestly thought that no one would be interested in this story since the prologue was so not kickin it...haha, see what i did there...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin it.**

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Chapter 1

**My weird Aunt Claire**

**Kim's pov.**

I ran the brush through my hair one last time before putting it down on the cupboard next to me. Taking a look at my reflection in the mirror, I made sure that I looked decent enough for the occasion. Not that I really cared though…

It was September and my second high school year had just started a week ago. Being a sophomore didn't really make much of a difference though. School was just as boring and time-consuming as it always had been. I wasn't a big fan of it, but I did what I had to do and passed all my classes like the average student I was. But most of the time I'd rather be doing something else, than being stuck in a classroom the entire day and as far as I saw it, the only upside to it was that I get to hang out with my friends.

Although the thrill and sometimes even horror of starting the school again and moving up a grade wasn't what made this time of year so special…no, September was the month when my, probably well-meaning, but extremely annoying aunt came to visit. She usually stays for the entire month and makes my already messed up life even worse.

Mum had insisted of the whole family being there when she arrives. The 'whole family' only included me and mom… since my parents are divorced and I'm the only child… So here I was at home on a Saturday afternoon waiting for another lame family reunion, when I much rather would have hung out down at the dojo with my friends…

Especially today I would have really needed to be there, not just for fun, since I was going to compete in a tournament tomorrow…

I had gotten in a pretty big arguing with my mum, trying to convince her how important it was for me to attend practise today. But she being the stubborn woman she was hadn't budged. Not even Rudy, my sensei had been able to persuade her entirely, although he had gotten her to agree to let me go to the dojo later this evening to work on my forms, which she by the way thought was completely unnecessary. She'd said all I ever do is karate, so I should be prepared as it is already…

The sound of the doorbell chimed through the house, making me jerk slightly.

"Kimberly!" I clenched my teeth, hearing my mum call me, using my full name. She only does that when there is someone else around that she wants to make a good impression on. "Our guest has arrived!"

"I'm coming!" I yelled back harshly and slammed the bathroom door shut behind me, using a lot of force to make sure that the slam would be loud enough for them to hear.

I was still mad at my mum and I was determined to let her know that. Besides she was the one who so badly wanted me to stay at home, so she would also have to deal with the Kim that showed up…

Practically stomping towards the front door, I was met with a warning glare from my mother, telling me I better behave… Needless to say, I ignored her…

"Ahh, there you are." The extremely red haired woman standing next to her said as she spotted me. She was dressed in an eye-catching but horribly blue coat that reached all the way down to her shins. On her head she wore a pretty big hat, looking really old fashioned with a plume sticking out of it that fluttered in the air as she moved her head around. "You've grown so much Kimberly."

"Hey Aunt Claire." I said flatly, holding back a comment on her use of Kimberly. She smiled with her unusually big mouth. Her features were actually kind of beautiful, although she had I huge pie hole, and not just by size... This woman could talk…

"Look at you…" Her deep blue eyes scanned me from head to toe, making me feel a bit awkward. "You're turning into a lady. I bet the boys are standing in line for you." My eyes widened slightly. I can't believe she just said that.

"Huh, I'd like to see the boy who dares to make a move on my daughter." My mother huffed. She's kind of old fashion and I don't think it's possible for her to even imagine me going on a date until I'm 18, which really sucks… I'm currently 15 years old and happens to find boys most interesting. And some of them actually seem to be interested in me too. I can definitely see myself with a boyfriend soon. Of course I would never tell mum about that though…

Claire seemed to ignore mum completely and threw out yet another inappropriate thing to say in front of her.

"Say maybe there's already a young man that has captured your heart." I felt my cheeks turn red. Not that there really was any guy that I was crushing on at the moment, although Steven in my math class was really cute…

"No…not really…" I said. Claire sighed.

"Young love…" She looked at my mum, who had a rather shocked expression on her face. "There's nothing as wonderful as young love, don't you think Anne?" Before my mum was able to answer, Claire was already helping herself in with her luggage and was about to head upstairs. "The usual room, is it?" She turned on her heel, eyeing her sister.

"Yeah." Mum gave her a nod, before the strange lady continued to walk up to the second floor, leaving us alone in the hallway. "What was she talking about?" Mum turned to me, looking worried. "Is there someone I should know about, Kim?"

"No, no there is definitely no one…" I said, which was true. I liked boys, but it would take quite a lot for me to really fall for someone. Maybe it was because of the disappointment my latest crush turned out to be…I don't know… I still found boys cute though…

Mom seemed to have let the whole boyfriend thing go and it wasn't until dinner that things started to get a little carried away…

"How's it going with your karate?" The red haired woman asked, after taking a sip of her drink.

"It's going excellent. She's the top of her class." Mum filled in for me. I rolled my eyes. That's so typical her. She's not very supportive at all with the karate training and she wouldn't mind if I'd quit, but none the less she's always bragging about my skills as soon as she has a chance.

"Well I bet she is…"

"Yeah…" I said "...well actually we're two that are…" Again I wasn't allowed to finish.

"She's doing great." Mom said. "She's actually having a tournament tomorrow."  
"A tournament? How exciting!" Claire exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Is there any possibility to come and watch?"

"Yeah sure." I smiled. I was actually pretty happy that she wanted to come, because that meant that mum had to come too, which she usually never did. "It'd be great if you both come."

"Well then it's settled." Claire said, obviously satisfied. Mom on the other hand didn't seem to be. It hurt a little to be honest. Why wasn't she interested in how I was doing? "Tell me Kimberly…isn't karate a sport that attracts boys mostly?"

"Well…yeah I guess." I answered a little confused by her question. "...but I know a lot of girls that likes it too." As if she didn't hear my answer she continued.

"Is there any particular boy there you find extra special?" I stared at her, as my mom almost choked on her piece of meat she was just about to swallow.

"No." I said, although there was one that popped up in my head. Someone that I didn't even like and I tried my best to ignore. So the fact that I always seemed to think of him in situations like this, really confused me. Claire watched me with a smug expression as if she thought that she had figured something out. Feeling uncomfortable and worried that this conversation was going to become even more awkward I turned to my mother.

"Hey, is it okay if I borrowed your bracelet with the green beads, on Friday?" I said trying to change the subject. "It would go great with my new floral dress."

"Yeah, just don't lose it."

"Don't worry. I won't." I said, noticing the curious look I got from Claire. "My best friend Grace is throwing a party." I explained to her.

"Oh, that sounds fun." She smiled, while playing with her brooch that was shaped like a bird and was placed on the left side of her chest.

"Would you like me to drive you to her like usual?" Mum asked. "Because I'm gonna work late that night and I don't think I'll be able to pick you up afterwards…"

"It's okay." I said. "I'll just take the short cut through the willow grove to…"

I was cut off by Claire coughing violently. Her face was turning slightly red and her eyes welled up as she panted for air.

"Excuse me…" She said, tapping her chest before throwing another coughing fit.

"Are you okay?" Mum wondered worriedly.

"Yeah…" Claire gasped out and took a sip from her drink. "I just swallowed the wrong way…" She took a few deep breaths, calming down and looked at me. "I can pick you up, darling." My eyes widened slightly. I could _not_ have her to pick me up. What if anyone of the 'cool kids' saw her? It would damage my reputation severely if anyone knew I was related to a weirdo like her. I believe that my face clearly showed the panic I felt inside, even though I did my best to mask it.

"Well it's almost a week away…so we can discuss that later." Mum said, seeing my expression. I sent her a grateful look. Sometimes she does know how to help me. "I signed your permission form, by the way. It's on the counter in the kitchen."

"Great." I smiled. Tomorrow after the tournament Rudy was going to bring us students to the Seaford Carnival. But to be able to come with, we had to have our guardian's permission… I was so looking forward to it.

"Just don't forget to bring the form with you tonight…"

~~~~**_Wings of Love_**~~~~

I hurried through the mall towards the dojo, finally free from my annoying family. The dojo was the one place where I could relax and just be me. Even though I was the only girl there, I felt like I really belonged. We were like one big family. It had been my favourite place on earth and I'd really enjoyed it there. That was until Rudy had to recruit a new member…

At first I had liked the talented brunette and although I hate to admit it I'd even developed a bit of a crush on him. Yes, he was the one –even though it's hard to believe- who had managed to get to my heart… We had gotten along pretty well in the beginning and I had fallen badly for his charming smile and gorges eyes. The more time I spent with him though the more of the real him showed and to my disappointment he turned out to be a real jerk.

He was arrogant and cocky, with high thoughts of himself. My strong feelings for him had faded quickly and it had now gotten to a point where I could barely stand him.

Having him around at the dojo, constantly pointing out what we did wrong or how much better he could do it, wasn't fun at all.

I tried my best to ignore him, not allowing him to ruin the enjoyment of doing the thing that I loved the most; Karate. Sometime it was really hard though and being the sassy confident girl that I was, I occasionally couldn't keep my mouth shut. That usually ended with a loud and aggressive argument, which probably could have escalated into a physical fight if Rudy hadn't been around to calm us down.

Today I wouldn't have to think about that big ego of a jerk though. The ordinary practise was over and I would be alone in the dojo with Rudy, leaving me the rare opportunity to focus on my training and my training only.

An excited smile played on my lips as I entered the dojo. A smile that instantly disappeared when I spotted the tall and muscular teen standing over by the lockers. He had his back turned my way, but I didn't need to see his face to know who it was. Why did he always have to be here? I mean didn't he have anything else to do?

Hoping that he was about to leave I walked across the mats, heading towards my locker to get my stuff. Unfortunate that meant that I was also approaching the cocky rude idiot, standing by them. He must've heard me and he turned his chocolate coloured eyes on me.

"Hi Jack" I greeted, putting on a fake smile. Sure I didn't like the guy, but greeting everyone with a smile was kind of like a reflex to me and a result of being raised by my mother. She'd taught me to always be polite to everyone even to those I didn't like. It's called manners. Something Jack obviously didn't have.

"Ssschy…!" He snapped, giving me a glare. It wasn't until now that I noticed that he was on the phone. Never the less I felt a bit offended by his rudeness.

"Don't you hush me!" I said, waving a finger at him. He looked annoyed but didn't say anything as he seemed to be concentrating on whoever was talking on the other end. I kind of wanted him to react though. I wanted him to feel some kind of regret and teach him that he needed to treat me with a little more respect. "I was just being nice. That's something you should try sometime." I scolded. "You know if you just lay back your attitude, then maybe people would actually start to like y-"

"Shut it, will ya!?" He exclaimed, taking a step closer to me in a threatening way. His tall body towered above me, as he clearly was trying to intimidate me. He seemed pretty angry. So typical him; always getting worked up over nothing...

I wasn't scared though, but there was something in his eyes that surprised me and I found myself backing off. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was as if he was ordering me, yet begging me to shut up.

His facial expression changed into a more humble one as he broke the eye-contact.

"I'm sorry." Jack apologized into the phone, his voice softer. "No…No wait, I wasn't shouting at you…" He tried to explain, but the person on the other end obviously hung up before he could. I couldn't help but smile a little in amusement, watching him realizing they didn't want to talk to him. He stood frozen for a moment as if he'd lost himself in thoughts, before turning his dark eyes on me. This time I did feel a bit scared. In a blink of an eye he came towards me, giving me a forceful shove. I hit the lockers behind me with a loud thud. Being too shocked to move I watched as he spun around and walked towards the doors, pain spreading through the back of my head. I can't believe he just did that…

"What's going on out here?" I heard Rudy's voice as he emerged from his office. I looked at him and then back to the teen who was heading out the door, giving it an unnecessary hard push, as he did. Although my blood boiled at just the thought of what he just did to me, I didn't want to tell Rudy about it. Because that would only lead to Rudy bringing him back to solve this and probably make him apologize. As much as I'd like to hear him say he's sorry (which would be a lie, since it's impossible for him to feel any form of regret. Believe me; I've tried to teach him a lesson more than once…) I didn't want to confront him one more time today. Plus, the next time we would end up alone somewhere by some random circumstance he would start to scold me from ever telling on him. So deciding that it was the best thing to do, I shrugged.

"Nothing. Jack was in a bit of a hurry though…" I mumbled. Rudy seemed to let it go and turned to me.

"Did you bring the permission form?"

"Yeah…" I said and pulled out the piece of paper that would allow me to go on the carnival tomorrow afternoon from my pocket and handed it over to my sensei...

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**OK first chapter's up:) I'm writing 2 stories at once here so I'm gonna do my best to update asap on both stories, but it's gonna be tough and I don't know how long it will take until I'll be able to post the next chapter.**

**Please review though, it'll help me to write faster;) hehe**

**/MJ**


	3. the Tournament

**AN!/ Hi everyone, thank you so much for all your reviews and to all of you who's been reading this story so far. I'm sorry for the late update. This chapter got way longer than I'd planned it to be. I'm really trying to keep this story 'short'...but I'm not doing a very good job with that haha.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin ' it.**

**I think I've said everything that was on my mind so...enjoy:)**

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Chapter 2

**The Tournament**

**Kim's pov.**

I took a sip from my water bottle, before turning my attention back towards the mats.

"You can do this Kim. Just stay focused." Rudy encouraged me. Without taking my eyes from my opponent I nodded. I can do this.

I put the bottle away and secured my helmet around my head. A twisting feeling of excitement and nervousness filled my stomach as I approached the mats.

In the distance I could hear my family and friends cheering for me. I blocked them out though. In fact I blocked the whole world out as I focused on the girl in front of me. She seemed calm and although there was determination in her eyes, her features and small body weren't very intimidating. This was going to be an easy match, or so I thought.

The judged had barely gotten the chance to give us the start signal before she leaped into action, proving that she was in fact very dangerous.

I was a little surprised, having not expected her to move that fast and I just barely managed to dodge her attack. But she was quick and before I had a chance to register what was happening she placed a kick to my back. Falling forward I quickly curled up my body and rolled over in a somersault fashion.

I pushed myself back up onto my feet again. The girl threw a punch at me almost immediately, but I blocked it before I ceased the opportunity and grabbed her extended arm. Twisting around I was about to throw her over my shoulder, when her leg somehow got tangled in mine and all of a sudden I was the one who was about to hit the mat.

I awkwardly managed to stay on my feet, while jumping away from her. This girl was tough, I had to admit. The sweat was sliding down my temple as I saw her in the corner of my eye, launching herself at me again. Almost on reflex I spun around and placed a kick to her stomach. She fell backwards, rolling out of the square.

I smiled in triumph, knowing that I'd won.

"Winner, Kim Crawford." The judge announced as he grabbed my wrist and brought my hand up in the air. The girl muttered something in defeat as she got up and walked with heavy steps back to her sensei.

I walked back to Rudy and the rest of the gang, with a huge smile on my face.

"You did great Kim!" He shirked in excitement, before turning around and yelling at the other sensei across the room. "Haha! In your face Trent!"

"Wow Kim, that was awesome!" Jerry said, giving me a clap on the shoulder.

"Thanks" I beamed. In the corner of my eye I could see Jack sitting on the bench, not bothering to stand up like everyone else. He was the only one of the warriors who didn't congratulate me. He didn't even seem to acknowledge the fact that I'd won. Instead he kept his focus on a guy on the other side of the room, as if he was trying to examine him with his gaze. I hadn't really expected Jack to be happy for me, but none the less I found myself disappointed. I had brought a victory to our dojo and I had fought hard to get it. Somehow I'd thought that he would be just a little cheerful for the sake of the dojo, I mean after all he's a part of it too.

I shot a glance at the guy who was the centre of Jack's attention, realizing that he must be the one Jack would soon be up against. That explained why the brunette was so quiet. He was probably just nervous and too focused on the challenge that laid ahead of him to pay any attention to what I'd just achieved.

Catching myself trying to understand my fellow warrior, I turned back to the rest of the gang. Those who were my real friends and supported me the way we'd sworn by the Wasabi code to do.

I wondered briefly why I kept trying to find things that could explain and defend Jack's behaviour. I mean most of the time there was really no excuse for the way he acted around us. He was rude and sometimes even mean, not caring about other's feelings. In school he mostly hung out by himself, since no one really dared to speak with him…

Now that I think about it, the warriors were probably the closest to friends he had and yet he did nothing to try to keep us. Too bad he's such a good martial artist, otherwise I'm pretty sure Rudy would've kicked him out by now. Truth was though; we really needed his skills…

"Kim, you really nailed it out there." Milton said, pulling me back from my thoughts. "I mean she looked pretty tough. It almost looked like she was about to get you."

"Well yeah…she was…you know…" I started as I soaked in their admiration, not wanting to confess how close I'd been to lose. However I didn't get to finish as Milton's statement hadn't only brought my attention.

"Clearly you did a mistake when you turned your side to her." I heard the familiar voice of Jack Brewer as he'd gotten up from his seat to join the conversation. "You lost your focus and you exposed yourself, giving her the chance to land that kick to your back." Somewhere in his speech I could feel my blood begin to boil. Who did he think he was? I'd won! What more could he ask for?

What really annoyed me was that my so called friends seemed to listen to what he was saying. Weren't they supposed to have my back?

"And what were you thinking when you tried to throw her?" Jack continued to scold me and I continued to be too stunned to say anything in my defence. "I would never have done that. That's the best way to put yourself in a vulnerable position. I mean she would've clearly won if it hadn't been for her…"

"Well, not everyone can be as perfect as you!" I snapped, cutting him off. I was so sick of him. He looked a little surprised, which I took advantage of and approached him. He unconsciously cringed just a little, barely even noticeable but it gave me a strange satisfying feeling none the less. I had the ability to make some kind of impact on him. "I must have been doing something right, huh?!" I hissed in his face. "I won, didn't I?" He seemed to have lost his ability to speak as he stared back at me. "Didn't I?" Snapping out of his daze, he straitened up.

"Yeah you did." He stated simply. "…because of luck." I clenched my teeth, so frustrated with him that I had a hard time to find my voice. I wanted to yell at him. I wanted him to know how much I disliked him, how much everyone disliked him because of his stupid know-it –all attitude.

Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to tell him any of that, before a familiar voice rang in the air, causing us all to look up.

"Kimberly." I took a deep breath to keep myself from exploding when I heard my full name being used. "Honey" The two ladies made their way over to us. They looked so different from one another that you would've never been able to guess that they were sisters. The woman, who was the one to give birth to me, was dressed in a grey plaid skirt and a grey button-up sweeter, matching it with a pair of black shoes. Her dirty-blond hair hung perfectly straight, barely touching her shoulders…Yeah, my mum wasn't much for standing out in a crowd… It was as if she was trying to be as invisible as possible, afraid of people noticing her…

Claire on the other hand was quite the opposite. Her bright green dress glowed like a lantern as it danced around her legs when she moved. The extremely red hair was tied up in an unruly bun at the back of her head and decorated with a green and blue ribbon and a few colourful feathers. In her ears hung big earrings shaped like birds, matching her bird brooch that she always wore.

Her shaggy looking purse was basically made out of feathers. She'd had it for as long as I can remember, making me wonder how old that thing really was. It was actually disgusting me a little and I did my best to avoid any physical contact with it. Something that was kind of hard when she embraced me in a tight hug.

"Oh you have improved a lot since I last saw you, I must say." Claire said and pulled away, flashing her wide smile. "I'm really impressed. You were amazing out there." I smirked, knowing that Jack was standing next to us and was bound to hear her praise.

"Thanks." I said, looking over at my mum, waiting for her to say something. She met my gaze.

"You did great, my dear." She smiled, although the smile seemed forced and I could clearly see that she was uncomfortable, being around so many people. I felt a bit disappointed about her not feeling genuinely happy for me. Her disinterest was so obvious.

Sometimes I wish that she could be a bit more into what I was doing like her sister, although maybe not as eye-catching and embarrassing…just a bit more normal…

"Maybe you could introduce me to your friends." Claire said, eyeing each of the warriors curiously.

"Yeah em.., this is Rudy our sensei…" I gestured towards him. "…and this is Jerry, Eddie and Milton." They all smiled as I turned to point with my hand at the red-haired woman. "And this everybody is my aunt Claire..." My voice died out a little at the end, realizing what I'd just said. Great, I thought, it's finally official; everyone just got to know that I'm related to her… I trusted them enough though to not judge me, although I was kind of worried that Jerry would accidentally tell someone else. He's not very bright and he can't really help it when things just seem to slip out of his mouth. I know he's a nice guy and means well, but I usually don't trust him with secrets…

"It's very nice to meet you miss...?" Rudy said, taking Claire's hand and raising one of his eye-brows in a flirty way.

"Claire" She filled in. "Just call me Claire."

"Okay. Nice to meet you Claire."

"Pleasure to meet you too…" She gave him a smile, before averting her gaze to something or someone next to us. "And who is this young man?" She nodded in Jack's direction. The teen looked at us with a blank expression on his face. I had almost forgotten about him…A knot formed in my stomach as I realized that he must have heard everything and he too knew by now that Claire was my aunt… He would definitely be considering to use that against me in the future… "Why haven't you introduced him?" Claire said, her voice a little high, seeming almost upset as she never let her eyes leave the boy. Well, I hadn't mentioned him because she had only asked me to introduce her to my friends and since I didn't consider him as one of them, I had left him out…I didn't feel like to explain that though.

"This is Jack." I said flatly.

"Interesting…" She mumbled barely audible as she looked him over. I noticed him tense under her gaze, but he didn't say anything. With two swift steps she approached him, holding her hand out. "Good day."

Jack looked at her hand suspiciously as if he was debating with himself whether he should shake it or not. A few seconds went by as he looked from her hand to her eyes then back at her hand again. The rest of us watched with interest, everyone knowing that Jack wasn't known for being polite… For all that we knew he could just as well ignore her and walk right past her… or come up with a stupid comment about how she looked like a scarecrow or something. Maybe that's why I was a little surprised when he suddenly reached out and took her hand.

"Good day" He muttered, making Claire smile even wider. She turned to go back to her sister, making a small stop next to me.

"I can see why you so eagerly want to attend your karate lessons Kimberly..." She winked while nudging my lightly with her elbow. "He's a real, what do you kids call it nowadays- hunk."

My eyes widened as my cheeks starting to burn. She did _not_ just say that.

I stood frozen, wishing that I could sink through the ground. She had said it loud enough for everyone to hear and the awkwardness and embarrassment of the situation had gotten everyone else to feel uncomfortable as well, no one knowing what to say. I'm pretty sure though, that I was feeling the worst. Claire of course, acted as if she didn't notice the tension she had just created.

I wanted to tell everyone that Jack was definitely not the reason why I did karate, in fact he was the reason why I had considered to quit a few times, or to change dojo. But I hadn't done that for two reasons. One; I didn't want to leave my friends who I considered my family and two; I didn't want to give up because of Jack. That would feel like he'd won, even though I don't think he'd care at all if I'd stay or not.

I threw a quick glance at the brunette, feeling -much to my confusion- my cheeks turning red again. He certainly looked good, I couldn't deny that, but I did definitely not like him. Not even a little and I was determined to let him know that as soon as I get the chance to. I don't even want to think about what he might say and do if he thinks that I have a crush on him. Life as I knew it would be over…

Half expecting him to deliver a mocking comment as I met his gaze for a split second, I was surprised when he didn't do anything. He actually seemed a bit confused and there was a faint red tone to his cheeks. Was he blushing?

He swiftly looked away, breaking the eye contact and brought his attention back to the match that awaited him.

"Kim?" Mum said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Claire and I are going to get something to eat. Do you want something too?"

"No I'm good, thanks…" I said, thankful that mum had changed the subject. "We're gonna eat together at the carnival later." I gestured to the rest of the gang.

"Ok." Mum nodded. "You did great today... Just give me a call when you want me to pick you up."  
"That's ok Miss Crawford. "Rudy said. "I'll drive her home."

"Oh that's very kind of you." She said before turning to me again. "See you tonight, hun."

"See ya." I said, still fighting the blush and embarrassment from that awkward moment, just minutes earlier. Watching the two sisters' backs as they were leaving I could hear Rudy from behind me.

"Ok, I've watched this guy you're up against… He just earned his second degree black belt two months ago…" He was obviously talking to Jack, giving him a last minute coaching before the match would start. "He's strong and solid in his forms, but he lack speed. So it should be pretty easy for you to dodge and block his attacks, Jack. Just make sure that he doesn't land a hit on…" I stopped listen to him as I saw Claire stop in her tracks by the mention of Jack's name, quickly grabbing mum's arm. She said something to her that was unfortunate not loud enough for me to hear. It didn't take long though before the two women turned around and walked back to us. The red head beamed as she pulled her sister along, who had a pretty blank and almost bored expression on her face.

"Hey. You forgot something?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and waiting for them to give me an explanation to why they came back.

"No, we just figured that we could stay a little longer." Claire said and let her gaze fall on the tall brunette, who she seemed to have found such a big interest in. I wondered why. It was actually a little creepy, not to mention embarrassing. Everyone must think that I'd talked about Jack and my 'crush' on him at home and Claire was now checking him out to make sure that he was good enough for me to date…ugh…

I realized my heart was starting to pound harder as I watched her, worried that she would say something that would make things even worse. What if she did something that would make it impossible for me to go back to the dojo or school, ever?

I shook my head, telling myself that I was overreacting. I just wish that she could stop staring at him like that.

"Since Jack's up next…" She mumbled, never taking her eyes off of him. Jack noticed her staring, but again didn't say anything. It was as if she had some sort of power over him that made him incapable to come up with one of those rude comments of his. Claire seemed to have caught herself staring all of a sudden and she quickly looked to Rudy, flashing a smile.

"It's not everyday that I get to a martial arts tournament and I'd love to stay to see how it'll go for my niece's dojo."

"Of course." Rudy said and gestured to a spot on the bench where we'd been sitting, inviting them to take a seat.

I was grateful that Claire kept quiet as we all sat on the benches, watching them preparing for the next entering. Jack stood up and put his helmet on. He turned to me, just before walking onto the mats.

"Watch and learn. This is how a pro does it…" He said cockily making the anger grow in me again.

"C'mon Jack!" Milton exclaim.

"Show him what you've got!" Jerry yelled excitedly, making me roll my eyes. No one liked him, unless he's competing for us. Then it's all 'Jack's the man'. It was as if I was the only person who disliked him just as much as I always do, no matter if he's fighting for our dojo or not. I didn't care if he'd win. In fact I would actually like to see him lose. That would maybe teach him that he's not better than everyone else…

A plan started to take form in my head. It was perhaps a little mean, but if he's as good as he says he is then it shouldn't matter much anyway…

Throwing a quick glance at the rest of the gang to make sure that no one was looking at me, I sneaked my legs over the bench we were sitting on and stood up behind everyone. No one seemed to notice me as I made my way over to where Jack had been sitting earlier.

His black and blue duffel bag was placed on the floor in front of the gap on the bench. Rudy was sitting next to it but he was too caught up in Jack's fight that had just started, to pay any attention to me. With a pretty smooth movement I climbed over the bench and sat down. Carefully I reached for the bag and opened it, quickly finding what I was looking for.

My conscious made me hesitate slightly. The thing that I was about to do wouldn't be completely fair… But it wasn't that awful either, besides, Jack's a pro… he said so himself…so let's put him to the test…

I grabbed the small device, before I would change my mind. Sliding my finger across the screen, the phone sprung to life. Of course it was locked, but it didn't really matter… All that mattered was that I had it. Holding it to my ear, careful not to cover the backside of the phone with my hand too much, while turning my head sideways, I made sure to give Jack a good view of it. I stood up, just so that I would be easier to spot and started to mouthing to create the illusion of that I was talking to someone. Occasionally looking up at the mats I soon met Jack's gaze. He'd done pretty well the entire match, but as he saw me holding his beloved phone, his face dropped and his movements froze.

I had known that his phone was precious to him and he never, I repeat never lets anyone touch it. Once I did the mistake to take out the phone from his bag when it was ringing during practise and brought it to him. I tried to make him a favour but he went all mad and yelled at me to not touch his stuff… Although I hadn't really thought that taking it now would have that much of an impact on everything.

Jack suddenly was forced to bend over as the other guy placed a good kick to his stomach. The best fighter in our dojo had lost his focus and now had to pay the price. I watched stunned as Jack got flipped in the air and landed hard on the floor. The judge pointed to the other guy, making it clear that he'd won.

The all so cheering warriors next to me went quiet as their hero –for the moment- pushed himself onto his feet again and started to make his way back to us. He hung his shoulders slightly and disappointment, frustration and something that looked close to sadness flashed over his face. That was until he spotted me and anger took over him causing his eyes to darken. Keeping his gaze locked on me he walked swiftly towards me, making me cringe slightly. Maybe it was foolish of me to provoke him after all.

"You…" He hissed as he stopped right in front of me, looking as if he was ready to punch me, but he held himself back. I smirked, my confidence was back, knowing that he wouldn't be able to do anything with all the people around. His jaw was clenched as he tried to get control of his anger. "Give me my phone." He said through gritted teeth. His voice was low and his breathing's heavy.

"Sure." I shrugged, pretending as if I didn't notice his frustration. "Here you go." I had barely gotten the chance to hold out the phone to him, before he snatched it. As soon as he had it he checked on the screen for any new calls or messages. I knew that he wasn't gonna find any and he would soon realize that he clearly overreacted as usual and it had cost him the victory.

"By the way; you did great 'pro'." I said, winking at him and turned to go back to my seat. As expected my comment got under Jack's skin and he quickly grabbed me, spinning me around to face him.

"You… You…" His grip around my arm tightened as he struggled to speak through his emotions. "Why did you have my phone?" The tension in his voice and body actually frightened me a little and Rudy must've noticed.

"Jack" He stood up, placing a hand on the teens shoulder. "Calm down." Jack's eyes flickered from me to our sensei. Taking a deep breath he seemed to calm down. I had to do everything that I could to suppress the laughter that was building up inside of me, that is until Rudy turned to me with a serious look on his face.

"Kim," He said. "What were you doing with Jack's phone?" He didn't seem angry, but I was worried that he might get once he found out that I had only taken it to tease Jack. I had been so focused on getting Jack all worked up that I hadn't even thought about what the consequences for me might be.

"It was ringing and…" My palms began to sweat. Lying wasn't exactly something I was good at. "…I thought that maybe it was important." I threw a glance at Jack, knowing that he knew that the phone hadn't been ringing.

To my relief he didn't get the chance to tell Rudy though as Claire had stood up.

"I'm sure everything is fine here…" She said, giving me a look as if telling me to be quiet and let her do the talking. "Rudy, would you mind…" She nodded her head in a gesture that meant that she wanted to talk to him alone, causing her wild locks that had escaped the bun to dance in the air around her face. Rudy catched on pretty quick.

"Sure…" He mumbled, a smile appearing on his face. Rudy always seemed to have a soft spot for women and he quickly followed her. Mum awkwardly made it after them.

It didn't take more than a second for them to be out of our hearing before Jack started to speak again.

"You took the phone…" He seemed to be talking to himself almost as he started to add everything together. "and you pretended to be talking with someone. Why would you…? Unless…" He made a pause and I could see he was figuring it out. Milton, Jerry and Eddie just watched in shock as the anger made it back to his features. The deep brown eyes suddenly connected with mine. "…You only did it to distract me. You caused me to lose." He raised his voice as he went along. "You…" The teen in front of me got all of a sudden very frightening and I instinctively took a step back, hitting the bench with the back of my knee. "This is all your fault!" He yelled and gave me a push. It wasn't hard but being in the position that I was, it was enough to cause me to lose my balance and I sat down on the bench. Standing above me, his face was really close to mine and I felt a bit scared. What took Rudy so long?

Jack's eyes bored into mine. They showed anger, but also desperation, which confused me.

"You stupid …. Do you have any idea of….?!"

"Jackson!" Jack froze instantly at the voice that had just called his name. All the anger was suddenly gone and replaced with something close to fear. A tall well built man, who I recognized as Mr Brewer- Jack's father- came into view. "Is that really how you should talk to a lady?" Jack threw him a glance before looking down at the floor, keeping his head down as if he was ashamed of himself. Mr Brewer walked up to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder, gently urging him to take a step back, away from me. "My apologies Miss."

I gave him a faint smile, grateful that he'd interrupted Jack's little tantrum. Mr Brewer was a pretty good looking man for his age and he seemed so nice. I'd meet him a few times before at the dojo. He always seemed so calm and he had that kind of aura around him that just made people like him. There's a kindness to him and still he's awe-inspiring. Maybe that's why he seemed to be the only one that could talk some senses into Jack.

You could clearly see by their features that he and Jack were related, although they were completely different in the way they behaved. If Jack would've had only the half of decency of his father then maybe we would get along…

I threw a glance at Jack. He was looking at the floor. The usually so confident teenager looked nothing like he used to. His whole posture was different as if he was highly ashamed of himself. If I hadn't known who he was and what had happened I would have almost felt sorry for him, but as it was I felt no such thing. In fact I hopped he felt bad. He deserved it.

"Jack…?" Mr Brewer said, making the boy tense slightly, still keeping his eyes fixed on the floor. "Isn't there anything you'd like to say to the young lady?" Jack stood silent and unmoving as if he was thinking about the question. Mr Brewer inhaled deeply and crossed his arms over his chest increasing the pressure towards Jack. I felt the corners of my mouth pull slightly upwards, wanting to form into a smile. But I wouldn't let them, feeling that it would be inappropriate, no matter how amusing it was to watch the scene in front of me. The ever so tough Jack Brewer was cowering under his fathers gaze, just as you would expect a five year old do. The brunette reluctantly looked up at me and mumbled barely audible;

"I'm sorry."

"What was that?" His father asked leaning his head closer to him, to emphasis that he'd been talking too low.

"I'm sorry." Jack repeated louder, looking down at the floor again. "It won't happen again..." Mr Brewer smirked in triumph, winking at me without Jack noticing. I smiled back at him just before looking over at Jack who was clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

"I'll go start the car." The man said, pulling out the car keys from his pocket, playing with them in his hand as he walked towards the exit.

Jack ignored the stares he was receiving from the warriors and took his duffel bag. Tossing it over his shoulder he began to follow his father.

"Hey, aren't you coming to the carnival with us?" Jerry asked. Jack turned around.

"No. I'm not eight, you know…" He said in a tone that clearly stated that he thought he was way too cool to go on a carnival. Something that really annoyed me…

I didn't mind him not coming though, that way he wouldn't be there to ruining all the fun for the rest of us. I just hated the way he always looked down on us. Shaking my head in thoughts, I watched him disappear through the exit…

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**I hope I didn't bore you too much with this pretty lame chapter... Things will get more interesting really soon though...**

**I'm gonna really really try to update asap and for all of you who are waiting for the sequel to Truth and Denial to be posted, I promise you that it'll be up very soon.**

**Please review, it means a lot:)**

**/MJ**


	4. A Notebook and a Thief

**AN/ Hi chapter 3 is here. I personally think that this is a pretty interesting chapter and I hope you'll find it too.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 3

**A Notebook and a ****Thief**

Yesterday had been a blast. After my victory at the tournament we'd all gone to the carnival, enjoying ourselves for hours. I had talked Jerry into going on a dark ride called the House of Horror with me. Something that had probably scarred him for life…or so he'd said himself…

Eddie had bought the biggest cotton candy I'd ever seen and Rudy and Milton had gotten on a rollercoaster that apparently had been too much for them and they had ended up throwing up behind a bush…

As for myself, I'd enjoyed ever minute of our visit, getting on every ride and trying to win as many stuffed animals as possible… I had practically run from one end of the carnival area to the other, dragging the boys along with me for the entire day.

Using so much energy yesterday had its costs though… My feet were slightly sore and I would have done practically anything to stay in bed this morning. However, mum would never allow such a thing, so here I was; in the noisy and crowded hallways of Seaford High…

Yawning, I reached out and grabbed my books for my first class. Sensing even through my tiredness that someone was approaching me I turned around. I was instantly greeted with a big smile as I met the girl's gaze.

"I heard you did well at the tournament!" Grace exclaimed as she got up to me and gave me a quick hug. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks" I smiled and closed my locker behind me. "How'd you know?"

"Jerry told me… I'm sorry I couldn't be there. But Mum insisted me on going to Roy's stupid baseball game."

"It's okay, I understand. Of course you should attend your brother's baseball match." I said. "Besides you didn't miss much…It wasn't any big tournament..." It was true. My victory wasn't that important for the sake of the dojo, although it still meant a lot to me.

"I'll be there on the next one, I promise." She said as we started to head to our class. The hallway was full of people, creating that kind of noise that you don't really notice until someone points it out or until it abruptly stops.

"Kim!" We both looked up at the sound of someone calling my name. Somehow the voice had managed to break through the wall of sound that was surrounding us. "Kim!" Slowing down to a halt, we let the boy catch up with us. His skinny legs moved swiftly beneath him, as he hurried up to us. The urgent tone in his voice got me worried that something had happened.

"What is it Milton?" I asked. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he held up a hand in a gesture for us to wait for him to talk. He panted quite hard and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I mean Milton has been training karate several times a week for two years now and he still has the condition of an eighty year old.

"Have you guys seen Jack?" He gasped out eventually.

"No" I shook my head. "I don't keep track of him. Why?"

"He and I are working on a project together…It's due tomorrow…" I raised an eyebrow. Did he seriously almost give himself a heart attack because of a school project? "I've been looking all over school for him and if I don't find him we could end up getting a B." He was starting to ramble hysterically as he grabbed my shoulders. "…a B! Do you know what that means? I'll never be able to…"

"Milton!" I cut him off, trying to stop his minor panic attack. "Calm down. School's just started. Maybe he's overslept or he's just, you know… late as usual." Milton calmed down slightly. "I'm sure he'll show up… And if he doesn't; you're smart enough to do the project all by yourself and still get an A." I gave him a smile.

"Yeah….maybe you're right Kim."

"Of course I'm right." I said confidently. Milton seemed to be thinking, still not fully convinced. "Look…If I see him, I'll tell him you're looking for him. Okay?"

"Okay…Thanks Kim."

The school bell suddenly rang through the building, telling us that we better get going.

"See you guys." Milton said before taking off for another sprint, once again gambling his life for getting in time for class….

I looked at his scrawny figure disappearing in the crowd… Milton is one of my best friends and he's the nicest and smartest kid I know. It hurts me to know that others are taking advantage of him… He usually never sees it himself, but I've witnessed it several times. I clutched my books a little. I sure hope that our 'karate pro' shows up, for the sake of himself, because I swear that if Jack Brewer thinks he can ditch Milton and letting him do all the work for him, without there being consequences, he is being terribly wrong…

"Kim?" I snapped back to reality, looking at Grace who had a concerned expression on her face. "You ok?"

"Yeah" I said. She studied me for a brief moment.

"Something's bothering you." She stated, obviously not satisfied with my answer.

"It's nothing really" I said as we started walking down the hallway. "But I don't think that Jack will show..."

"Why? He's always here." I nodded, knowing that she was right. Even though Jack was terrible at being on time he still never missed a school day…unless we were going on a fieldtrip or something that he would find too lame for him to attend… I don't even think he stays home when he's sick… Never the less I had figured out the reason why he would ditch school today.

"He lost his first match yesterday. He didn't even make it to the finals." I explained and I swear I could hear a gasp coming from Grace. "Yeah I know…" I said, knowing what she was thinking by the way she reacted. Jack's fighting skills were well known and most kids here found him unbeatable. Something that really annoyed me… "He lost it big time." I continued, enjoying the fact that I was being able to say that sentence. Jack's always been competitive and he gives his heart out when it comes to tournaments. I have to give him credit for that… That was one of the big reasons why he rarely ever loses a fight, but yesterday the unthinkable happened and I'd be the one to start to spread the word.

"And let me tell you, he did not take it too well… He's the sorest loser I've ever seen." I tried to hold back a laughter as we made it up the stairs that would take us to the second floor. "You should've seen his little outburst yesterday… I don't know how far he would've gone if his father hadn't showed up to calm him down."

"Really?" Grace said, excitedly listening. She loved gossip and this was definitely something that she would love to spread around the school.

"Yes. He went all mad…" I stopped abruptly as we had reached our classroom. "Anyhow…" I whispered just before we entered. "I think he's too ashamed to show up…"

_**~~~~Wings of Love~~~~**_

While humming a silly melody I walked up our driveway, glad that the school was over and for once we didn't have much homework. I'd barely gotten halfway to our front porch when I heard my name being called, echoing through the neighbourhood.

"Kimberly!" I would recognise that high voice anywhere. Scanning my surroundings, my eyes fell upon a red haired lady sitting under the big oak tree in our garden. She had brought out an easel and a chair and was now obviously busy painting something. Beside her she had her bag full of material for her artwork.

Her back was facing me, making me wonder how she'd noticed me. Figuring that she wanted to show me her work I approached her.

Claire was very creative and her paintings were usually amazing. Peeking over her shoulder, I could see the bird feeding table that was decorating the canvas clearly. I recognized it as it had been a part of our garden for some years now. Looking up at the real bird table that was just a few yards in front of us and then back at the painting, I could tell that she had gotten it exactly right, down to the last detail. Three birds were also in the painting. Two of them were eating at the table and another one was flying around in the foreground.

"What do you think?" Claire wondered, never taking neither her eyes nor the brush of the canvas.

"Wow…" was all I could say.

"You like it?"

"Yes, it's beautiful." Claire added some grey brownish colour to one of the bird's chest.

"Do you know what kind of bird this is?" I shook my head, looking at the small plump creature. It was brown-grey and didn't look anything special. I definitely recognized it, but knowing the names on different birds wasn't my strength.

"It's a sparrow." She explained. "It's my favourite bird. They don't look like much and they're one of the world's most common birds… People don't usually pay much attention to them, although sometimes the smallest of creatures could have the greatest impact on things…" I briefly reflected on what she'd said, but soon shook it off and focused on the painting once again. Claire seemed to have gotten lost in her own thoughts for a moment, before she decided to change subject.

"How was school today?"

"Okay I guess. It's just the same old, you know. Nothing interesting…" I shrugged, watching her dip her brush on in the brown colour on her palette.

"Hm…" She muttered under her breath as my answer hadn't been exciting enough. A moment of silent went by and I was thinking about going inside, but Claire came up with another question to keep me from leaving. "Was Jack doing ok?"

"Sorry, what?" Not having expected her to ask about him, I wasn't even sure I heard her correct.

"Jack." She clarified still not looking at me. "He took that loss pretty hard yesterday. Is he alright?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him, since he decided to ditch school and Milton…" Feeling the anger rise in me again, my voice came out with a small hint of bitterness. "Why do you care anyway?"

"Oh Kimberly…" She chuckled and for the first time she turned to me, her eyes sparkling like she was up to mischief. "I'm not the one who has picked him out, remember that."

"What's that suppose to mean?" I asked, confused by her answer. "Are you hinting that I'm the one who is obsessing about him? I can't remember one single time that I've started a conversation involving him. You're the one who keeps bringing him up all the time." She just smiled at me and turned her attention back to the painting. Giving me the feeling that she wasn't really listening to me, I felt the need to clarify it for her. "I don't know what you see in him. For all I know he's a stubborn obnoxious mean and selfish jerk."

"Just keep an eye on him, will you?" She said, clearly ignoring what I'd just said. "You know… the same way that you've done for the year you've known him."

"Why would I do that?" I said, starting to get really frustrated by her. "I don't care what he's doing. I don't care if I'll ever see him again. In fact I would be glad if he disappeared from my life." I spat and walked away before she would have the chance to saying anything.

I can't believe her. I mean didn't she see the way he treated me yesterday? It actually hurt to be honest; to have her ask about how he was doing before she'd asked about how I was doing.

Once inside I dumped my backpack on the floor in our hallway and slowly started to recall what Claire had said outside. She wanted me to keep an eye on him like I used to… I hate to admit it but back when I had a crush on him I used to watch him all the time. Not in a creepy kind of way though… It's like I'd grown some supernatural power and I just could't avoid but spotting him all the time… Anyway, the thing that bothered me at the moment was that I hadn't told anybody about me crushing on him. Not even Grace…So how in the world did Claire know? Unless…

I shook my head. She wouldn't, right?

Not being able to convince myself fully I hurried off to my room. Knowing exactly what I was looking for I quickly spotted the book lying on my desk. I panicked slightly when I realized that it wasn't lying on top of the stack of books up in the right corner of the furniture where I'd left it two days ago, but in the middle of the desk. Someone has moved it and most probably even read it. Having a hunch of who it must be I stormed back out.

Anger and disappointment was boiling inside of me when I reached my aunt.

"Have you been reading my diary?!" I blurted out. She totally ignored me, which only got me madder. "I can't believe you went through my stuff!" Still no reaction, instead she started to hum an old and sad melody. "I know it was you." I tried again, starting to feel upset by the way she blocked me out. "How would you feel if I went through your stuff, huh?"

I quickly bent down and reached inside her back. Grabbing the first thing that I found, I pulled out a black notebook. This act actually got her to stop humming and she looked at me. I was too busy going through the pages to pay any attention to her though.

The notebook seemed to my surprise to be really old. The pages were yellow and the edges were worn down. Letters that were narrow and tall formed into words that were really old fashion and I could barely understand what it said. But I was being weirdly captivated by it none the less, forgetting the anger I felt inside. There was one page with something that looked like a poem that I found most interesting.

_The __foolishness__ of you all  
__Has __brought__ doom as I call  
__The shadows of the past  
__Will come to haunt you at last_

_You are all too blind to see  
__The time will come when  
__I'll return to be…_

The notebook was suddenly jerked away from my grip, not allowing me to finish. Surprised I looked up at Claire who had a very stern look on her face. An expression I'd never seen on her face before. I took a step back, not being able to say anything. Her eyes told me that I had done something that I shouldn't have.

"How much did you see?" She asked, seriousness filling her voice.

"Nothing much." I said, starting to feel a bit worried but also curious of her sudden change of behaviour. "Why?" She studied me for a moment, making me feel uncomfortable.

"Don't you have homework to do?" She asked out of the blue.

"Yes" I answered hesitantly.

"Then why don't you get to it?" She gestured for me to get back inside to get started. I quickly obeyed, glad that I was being allowed to leave. In the corner of my eye I could see her put the notebook back in her bag, before looking in my direction making sure that I went inside.

It wasn't until I'd reached my room that I really started to reflect on the text I'd just read. I wasn't able to recall all the words, but it had been dark and it had brought shills down my back. If it hadn't been for Claire's so weird reaction I would've thought that it was just a poem… but now I had a strange feeling that it meant something more.

So many questions went through my head at that point, but the ones to haunt me the most were; why did Claire have something like that in her possessions and why didn't she want anyone to see it?

The more I thought about it the more I realized how little I really did know about my aunt. She always wants to talk about me and my life, but she never tells anything about her own.

That's when it dawned on me; she was a mystery. A mystery that I wanted to solve…

_**~~~~Wings of Love~~~~**_

It was Thursday. Almost the whole week had gone by and still no sight of Jack. Not that I really cared though… But I had to admit that it was pretty strange and I was beginning to wonder if he would ever decide to show up again. He hadn't even been at the dojo…

Poor Milton had somehow managed to get the project done all by himself, which sadly wasn't the first time he had to do something like that…

"You coming Kim?" The brown-haired girl in front of me wondered, obviously having noticed that I'd started to fall behind.

"Yeah…" I said and hurried up. It was morning and as usual we were heading side by side to class.

"I got Roy and his friends to fix the music equipment." Grace said excited. Her party was coming up tomorrow and all she could think and talk about was… that party. "The sound's gonna be awesome."

"That's great."

"Yeah I know."

Somehow we had made it to the classroom way before we needed to be there and no other students were around. I leaned against the wall, listening to Grace's rambling on. Some of it were pretty interesting other stuff were down right boring, but I listened and discussed it all with her like the true friend I was to her.

A few minutes went by until our health teacher Miss Applebaum walked up to us.

"Good morning girls." She greeted.

"Morning"

"You two are early." She stated with a smile and pulled out the keys to unlock the door to the classroom. "You must be really excited for today's learning experience." Me and Grace exchanged gazes, both knowing what the other was thinking. We hadn't exactly planned to be early…

Miss Applebaum unlocked the door with a click and opened it. Throwing one quick glance into the room was enough to cause her to freeze. I and Grace, who was standing right behind her, soon realized what had caught her attention. Standing over by the teacher's desk was a teenager boy. He had his hand in Miss Applebaum's purse, obviously searching for something. My best guess -money.

His soft locks jumped in the air as he snapped his head up, revealing two chocolate brown eyes filled with fear, knowing that he'd been caught red-handed. Instantly recognizing the boy, I didn't know what to feel. I was shocked to put it mildly, never thinking that he would ever sink so low that he would steal from a teacher. Grace that stood behind me was the first one to find her voice and she said that small word -or name actually- that I was pretty sure was going through all of our heads at that moment.

"Jack…?"

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**Dun dun DUN... ok that was the third chapter. Hope you liked it.**

**So here's the deal; as you know I'm working on two stories at once. And I'm gonna put twice as much effort into**** the one story that gets the most reviews. So if you want me to update this story sooner, then make sure you leave a review:) It's more than ok to leave a review on both stories btw;)**

**See you at the next Chappie:)**

**/MJ**


	5. Mysteries and a Party

**AN/ Hi, It's been a looooong time since I updated this story. I'm so sorry for the wait and I really hope that you all still remember it. My only excuse is that I've been really busy working on my other story...**

**This chapter is pretty long though, so I hope it'll make it up to you...**

**DISCLAIMER: I don not own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 4

**Mysteries**** and a Party**

"Jack?" Grace's voice rang in our ears before silence filled the room again. We were shocked to say the least and all we seemed to be able to do was to stare at the boy who just stared back at us.

There was fear in his eyes and I wondered what was going through his head at that moment. I bet he was trying to come up with some excuse to why he was digging in Miss Applebaum's purse. That's what I would've tried to do if I were him…

Suddenly I became very curios to know what he would come up with. It wouldn't be easy for him to talk himself out of this, if not impossible.

"Jack Brewer!" Miss Applebaum exclaimed, finally having found her voice that was now dripping with venom. Jack didn't say anything. He barely even moved. All the cockiness and arrogance that use to fill up the whole being of Jack Brewer was gone. He managed to keep a blank expression, but I could see the panic in his orbs. I didn't feel sorry for him though. He never seemed to stop surprise me with how stupid he could be. I mean this was just…stupid…and mean.

The good thing was that there were three witnesses to it all and one of them was Miss Applebaum. I really hoped she'd teach him a lesson…

Miss Applebaum walked up to him with a stern look on her face, before snatching her purse away from him. Reaching down into it she started to go through it to make sure that nothing was missing.

"It's not what it looks like." Jack said quietly. I and Grace exchanged glances raising our eyebrows. Jack's choice of words were probably the most used when it comes to people being caught in the act of committing a crime. And like the majority of the times they're used no one listened to them. In fact Jack would've probably done better keeping quiet. The only thing he accomplished was getting Miss Applebaum's attention. She looked up at him.

"You!" She held up a finger at him, like you would do to a naughty child. "Principal's office now!" Jack closed his eyes in defeat for a moment, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get away with this before he started to walk towards the door with Miss Applebaum closely following behind him. I caught eyes with him for a brief moment as he came closer.

"Way to go Jack," I teased and gave him a sarcastic smile, not missing the opportunity to let him know what I thought about his actions. Jack gave me a glare before he adverted his eyes to look at something behind me. He swiftly walked past me, jamming his shoulder forcefully into mine. It didn't really hurt although the impact was big enough for my whole body to turn with it.

"Ouch!" I wined loud enough for our teacher to hear.

"Jack!" She warned and headed after him, giving us one last glance. "You kids go inside. Open your books on page 213 and start reading. I'll be back as soon as I escorted this young man to principal Buckett." With that she and Jack left. I watched them as they disappeared down the hallway. As they picked up speed I noticed Jack walking a bit funny. Was he limping?

"He's got some major problems," Grace pointed out and went inside the classroom.

"You've got that right," I mumbled and followed her to our seats.

~~~~_**Wings of Love**_~~~~

With everything that had happened around Jack lately, I found it very hard to focus on the class and Miss Applebaum's instructions on the board. My head was full of questions and my attempts to figuring out all the answers to them only got new questions to pop up. Like, why hadn't Jack been to school? Why was he stealing? Was he really that desperate to get money? And how the heck did he manage to sneak into the class room before school had even started?

Somewhere in the middle of the class nature suddenly called. I figured it was that extra cup of coffee I had this morning. It'd seemed like a good idea back then to get that extra energy that I'd needed to resist going back to bed… But now I had to pay the price for that.

Standing up as smoothly as possible, trying not to draw anyone's attention I walked up to Miss Applebaum's desk. She looked up at me with a smile.

"I need to use the bathroom," I whispered. She just gave me an understanding nod before pulling out a hall pass and handing it to me.

I silently sneaked out of the classroom. The hallway was quiet and almost ghost like at this time of day. The students were all at their classes and no adults seemed to be around either. The strange atmosphere it created caused me to unconsciously walk more careful as if I was afraid to cause some noise that would break the silence.

I walked to the bathroom, making sure that I took my time. The class was boring and seemed to never end so it was nice to have a break from it and I figured the longer time I lingered the shorter time I'd have to spend in the classroom when I get back…

Once I was done and out in the hallway again I threw a glance at the clock on the wall. Seeing that it was still about 25 minutes left of the period I sighed. Sometimes time could go extremely slow…

Not knowing if I would be able to endure that long I decided to take a detour. Technically I was heading back to class. I just decided to take to long way, killing a couple of extra minutes. It wasn't until I saw the reception that I came to think of that this way would lead me right pass the teachers' lounge and that probably wouldn't be the best idea. But I wasn't going to turn back around now; I just needed to be a little extra careful.

The lady sitting by the reception didn't seem to notice me or she just ignored me. I don't know, but she didn't bother to look up from the papers that were lying in front of her.

Quickly passing her I soon came to the door that led into principal Buckett's office. The image of Jack digging in Miss Applebaum's purse instantly popped up in my head and I wondered if Jack was still in there talking to Mr Buckett. As if on cue the door opened slightly and I immediately stopped in my tracks, feeling as if I shouldn't be here. Debating whether I should make a run for it or just stay and act like nothing, I watched the door. It wasn't fully opened and all I could see was a hand holding onto the door knob. Whoever the person was they were about to leave, but still seemed to have s few more words to say.

With the door opened I could hear the voices clearly and the curious side of me took over. Concentrating on what they were saying I completely forgot that I probably should get going.

"I hope we're clear with everything," Principal Buckett said. He didn't sound angry or anything, just utterly formal.

"Certainly," another voice answered. Clearly it belonged to the same person that was holding the door and I immediately recognized it as Mr Brewer's. Only he had that calm way of speaking.

"And I sure hope that something like this will never happen again," Principal Buckett continued. "Or I'm afraid I will have to suspend you."

"Like I said before," Mr Brewer spoke up for Jack. "Me and my son are most sorry for what happened and we can assure you that it won't happen again. Can't we Jack?" Even though Mr Brewer was still speaking very calmly, his voice got a much firmer ring to it as he gave the last question to his son.

"Yes sir" I could hear Jack mutter rather bitterly.

"Very well…" principal Buckett said. "I think we're all done here. Good day Mr Brewer."

"Good day," Jack's father said in return and pushed the door opened. I quickly turned around pretending to be looking at a giant painting hanging on the wall above a row of lockers. Hoping that they wouldn't pay much attention to me I could hear the two Brewers heading out the door before closing it behind them.

"I don't know what to say Jackson…" Mr Brewer said. "I'm most disappointed in you."

"It's not…" Jack began but his voice died out. It's strange how such a cocky guy like Jack could turn into someone so insecure just like that. His voice was filled with regret and he sounded so…pitiful? "I didn't…I just…"

"You couldn't help it. I know," His father said for him. He sounded annoyed and his voice got slightly louder as he went on. "You never can, can you? What do you think your mother will think of this?" There was a short pause. I so wanted to turn and look at them, but I didn't dare to, afraid that they would recognize me if they hadn't already.

"I was afraid something like this would happen one day," Mr Brewer let out a sigh. "I really thought that I would be able to hold it all back, that I would be able to help you…guess I will have to try a little harder…"

"No, dad." Jack said, fear clearly in his voice. I frowned. Something told me that it was more to this than just the morning's event. "Please, it won't happen again. I swear I'm not like…" I just couldn't hold back my curiosity any longer and took a peek over my shoulder. My movements must've caught Jack's attention, because at the exact same moment as I laid my eyes on him he looked right back at me. He immediately went quiet. The expression on his face that showed fear and surprise quickly changed into a blank stare as he tried to hide his emotions. He didn't fully succeed though.

Jack's sudden change of behaviour when he spotted me caught Mr Brewer's attention and he followed his son's gaze until he saw me. The man inspected me for a second or two before his face lit up.

"Hey, I didn't see it was you at first." He said obviously recognizing me.

"Hi," I smiled nervously. Mr Brewer suddenly narrowed his eyebrows, thinking. I felt as if his eyes were seeing right through me as an awkward silence filled the hallway. The man shook his head as if to get rid of his thoughts.

"Excuse me Miss," he said, cocking his head to the side. "I've never seen you with your hair down like that before."

Both Jack and I gave him strange glances. I felt a little uncomfortable and I nervously pulled a strand of hair out of my face, placing it behind my ear. Mr Brewer must have noticed how I felt and he quickly excused himself.

"I'm sorry. Don't get me wrong…It's just that you remind me of someone." He took a few steps towards me. "May I ask you what your name is?"

"Kim" I answered. "Kim Crawford." I was actually a little surprised that he didn't know my name. I'd met him a few times before but I'd never really talked to him and when I came to think about it I'd never introduced myself properly. Although I still found it strange that Jack hadn't told him my name after practically seeing me everyday for the last year. Mr Brewer rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment.

"Crawford you say…You don't happen to have lived your whole life in Seaford, do you?"

"Yes I have," I answered.

"Interesting," he mumbled as he let his arm fall back down, revealing a rather small pin that was attached to his jacket. It had the shape of a shield, divided into two halves, one that was red and one that was white. On it were a burning torch and an axe placed in the shape of a cross. I frowned. That was a pretty odd thing to wear. "I know this sounds a bit crazy but I know a guy that would like to speak with you," Mr Brewer continued.

"Sorry what?" I said looking up from the pin to his eyes.

"Gregory Kingsley, an acquaintance to me. He's a historian specialized in Seaford history. I think he would very much like to speak with you." He reached inside of his jacket, as I stood there not really knowing what think of all of this. I glanced at Jack. He looked a bit confused as well.

"Dad," he said quietly. "I don't think…"

"Ah!" Mr Brewer exclaimed obviously having found what he was looking for. "There you go," he said and handed me a card.

"Dad, don't…" Jack tugged on his fathers arm to try to get his attention, however the man would not react to it. I took the card and looked at it briefly.

Gregory Kingsley, Guardian of the Fire was written in bold letters on it along with his address and phone number.

"He's been studying the families living here in Seaford for years..." I tried to concentrate on what he was saying, but I couldn't help but notice Jack seeming to get impatient, almost anxious. Somehow that made me nervous and I couldn't really take in everything Mr Brewer was saying. Jack suddenly walked away, slightly limping as he heading for the exit. Mr Brewer didn't seem to notice as he continued to speak. "Gregory has managed to track down what has been happening to the-" He was suddenly cut off by a loud slam as Jack had placed a kick to a random locker he'd passed, most certainly giving it a dent.

"Jackson!" Mr Brewer exclaimed, making me jump. Jack just looked at him blankly before defiantly throwing another kick at the next locker, using the foot that wasn't hurt. "Jackson! Stop that!" Mr Brewer sounded angry and I was actually a bit surprised that Jack had dared to aggravate him like that. "I swear that kid's gonna give me grey hairs before my time…"The man shook his head. "Nice talking to you Kim." He said giving me one last glance before taking off after his son. "Jackson! You're in trouble now!" I could hear him shout as he chased after Jack who was careful to keep the distance to him until they'd left the building.

I stood and watched them disappear. That was one of the weirdest encounters I'd ever experienced and I didn't know what to think of it. All I knew was that I was confused. Placing Gregory's card in my pocket I hurried back to class with so many things on my mind it almost gave me a headache.

~~~~_**Wings of Love**_~~~~

"I'm home!" I announced through the house as I entered, throwing my schoolbag on a nearby chair and kicking off my shoes. Not receiving any answer I went inside, searching the rooms to see if anyone was home. Having gone through most of my house without finding anyone I got to the door that would lead me to the guest room, the room that was at the moment occupied by my aunt. I gave it a light knock. Again no answer. Carefully I opened the door and peeked inside.

The room was rather small and by the wall opposite to the door was a bed and on the wall next to that was a window with a desk placed beneath it. There's where I found my red haired aunt, writing. Her turquoise dress was so bright in colour it almost hurt to look at it. The woman seemed to be too caught up in her work to notice me. Even though I've always thought she was weird and annoying my curiosity seemed to be drawn to her. And after the last incident with the notebook, I was now more curios than ever to what she was doing, so I carefully approached her. Looking over her shoulder I saw the notebook I'd read from a few days ago. The book Claire had been so keen to keep away from me.

It now lay open next to her showing pictures of the moon, starting with the new moon and going through them all until the waning crescent. Underneath the pictures there were numbers and notes, all too messy and disorganised to make any sense to me. On a loose paper that was lying next to the note book partly covering some of the pages was a list of names. Next to the names were numbers, seeming to be annual figures of some sort. Again I couldn't make any sense of it, especially not after having spotted the name 'Kimberly' being the last one on the list. The name was circled unlike the other ones and I suddenly got worried.

"What are you doing?" I asked curious. Claire jumped in her chair, quickly stuffing the list into the notebook before closing it and placing it over the spiral she'd been writing a bunch of calculations on, careful to cover it all. With a warm smile on her face she turned to me so fast that her earings made out of feathers swung through the air.

"Kimberly, I didn't know you would be home so early." She said, trying to act as if she wasn't hiding something, which obviously she did. "How was school today?"

"Fine I guess," I shrugged, not really interested in talking about school. My eyes having found something much more intriguing.

On the desk there lay another note. It had previously been hidden underneath the notebook and Claire hadn't noticed it in her hurry to put all her stuff away. The note held a drawing of a shield, red and white with a cross made out of a torch and an axe. Above it someone had written '_The Brotherhood of the Fireguard'._ I immediately recognized the mark from Mr Brewer's pin.

"What's that?" I wondered, pointing at the piece of paper. Claire turned to look.

"Oh that… that's just a weapon of an old club...thing…Your grandfather used to be a part of it." She said, not caring to remove it since I'd already seen it.

"Really?" Now I was interested. "The Brotherhood of the Fireguard? Sounds like some kind of cult or something." I pointed out. Claire chuckled at that.

"Yes it does, doesn't it?"

"What were they doing?" I wondered.

"I don't know." She said, although I had a feeling that she did. "And it's really none of your concerns. It is a club for men only."

"So it still exists?" I said, having caught the word '_is'_.

"I guess," Claire answered. "Why so interested all of a sudden?" She wondered.

"I saw Mr Brewer wearing a pin with that symbol today."

"Oh that's interesting…" She said and I naturally assumed she must be meaning Mr Brewer having a pin like that. But obviously I was wrong… "So you met Jack today?"

"Yeah I did sort of. Why?"

"I really think you should talk to him." She said.

"What is it with you?" I said, rather frustrated with her. "Why do you care so much about what Jack is doing? He's a nutcase. Today he even tried to take money from a teacher." I said, throwing my hands in the air for emphasis.

"Hm…" She muttered looking pass me. "That really doesn't make much of a difference." I looked at her surprised as she rose from her seat, picking her books up and placing them in her bag. "You should talk to him." She placed a hand on my shoulder urging me to get going. "But stay away from the Fireguard…" I raised my eyebrows.

"Why?" Claire ignored my question and just like she's done so many times before she decided to change the subject just like that.

"So are you ready for some lunch?"

"Yeah…I guess." I answered as we walked out of the room.

"Oh and I've fixed everything so I'll be able to pick you up at Grace's party tomorrow." She said.

"Great," I said, really trying my best to sound happy about that and hiding my frustration. Claire eagerly made it to the kitchen as I watched her from behind, shaking my head in thoughts. What was she hiding?

~~~~_**Wings of Love**_~~~~

I must say Grace had really outdone herself this time. The party was off the hock. She somehow had managed to get all the 'cool' kids to come and her garden was now full of teenagers having fun in their own strange ways…

Some of them were dancing to the extremely loud music that was blasting from the speakers, others mingled while a bunch of guys were trying to impress some girls with their party tricks…

"This is awesome!" I yelled over the music.

"I know right!" Grace yelled back, a big smile on her face. "Did you know that most of Roy's team mates are here too?!"  
"Really?!" Grace nodded, proudly confirming that indeed most of the school's baseball team was there. Roy, Grace's brother was a pitcher and he had proven to be really good which had put both him and Grace in a whole new league… I figured that was probably the reason why so many had decided to show up at this party. Everyone that was someone was here. Except for one… Jack.

I hadn't really expected him to be here, although he was as much a part of our school as anybody else.

He wasn't exactly popular but he was respected, or correction- feared by the rest of the students. Everyone knew who he was yet no one seemed to wanna be around him. My best guess would be that Grace probably hadn't invited him even though she clearly had let almost anybody in. It made me wonder if he'd ever even been to a party…Who would ever invite someone like him?

I had absolutely no clue why –maybe it was because one tiny tiny part of me felt guilty about causing him to lose that match- but I felt the need to mention him.

"Too bad Jack ain't here." I said with sarcasm, making Grace crack a smile.

"Yeah, he totally would've made this night a night to remember." She joked back. We giggled at that before Grace turned serious. "I still can't believe he tried to steal from a teacher." She shook her head in thoughts.

"I know…Jack's a jerk, but I never thought that he would do something like that." I agreed as we started to walk away from the speakers and the crowd, so that we would hear each other without having to yell. "I mean I thought I knew him pretty well after being forced to spend almost every afternoon with him at the dojo. Turns out he was even crazier than I thought."

Grace's place was huge and the back yard hadn't really gotten an end to it. About two hundred yards from the house trees were growing, spreading into the forest that was known by the name of Willow Grove, just big enough for someone to get lost in. We'd just reached the place where the first trees stood when a familiar voice came from behind.

"Hey girls!" Already knowing who it was I grew a smile and turned around.

"Hi Kels." I said, greeting her with a hug. Grace followed my example, seeming just as happy to see her.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kelsey wondered.

"Nothing really. Just Jack messing up again." Grace answered trying to sound as if it was nothing, but I could tell she was about to explode, wanting to tell what had happened yesterday at school. Grace loved gossip, especially when she was the one to deliver it. Just as I'd predicted Grace couldn't keep quiet for very long. "Did you hear that Jack tried to steal money from Miss Applebaum yesterday?"

"No way!" Kelsey exclaimed, her eyes the size of two tennis balls.

"Yes way." Grace nodded, kind of proud to be able to hand out such juicy information. Kelsey looked from her to me as if she wanted to make sure that Grace was telling the truth and wasn't trying to pull a joke on her or something.

"It's true." I confirmed with a nod. "We both saw it. I even met Mr Brewer outside the principal's office when he was there to pick up Jack…" Kelsey listened before shaking her head.

"You know what, I'm actually not that surprised." She said. "Did you guys hear that he punched Brain McKenzie last week? Brian didn't report it, probably too embarrassed by the fact that he got beaten by a sophomore." I couldn't help but smile at that.

"Well, one time Roy and his friends were staying a bit late in the locker room after practise and Jack walked in. He dropped his phone on the floor and when Adam tried to be nice and pick it up for him Jack went all crazy. He hit Adam right in the face." Kelsey gasped and I instantly recalled the tournament where I had touched his precious phone. A shiver went down my spine as it dawned on me just about how much danger I'd put myself in. What if he'd jumped me? He was so much bigger and stronger than me. I could've been dead by now! Unaware of the small panic attack I had inside of me Grace continued. "Roy of course wanted to help and Jack beat him too. The rest of the guys were too scared to do anything…"

"Earlier this week he skipped school and ditched Milton." I said, wanting to be able to contribute with some information too. "Milton ended up doing the whole project by his own."

"Oh do you guys remember when Jack…"

The conversation went on like that and the list of stupid and mean things Jack had done never seemed to end. I could feel how my previous dislike and anger towards him were beginning to grow into pure hatred.

"The most annoying thing about him is that he doesn't seem to realize that nobody likes him because of the way he acts. He always walks around as if he owns the school." I said. Kelsey and Grace nodded in agreement. "I so wish that someone would put him back on the ground." Grace's eyes widened and a huge grin appeared on her face.

"Maybe we can." She said. Kelsey and I exchanged a glance, not really knowing what she was talking about. Grace saw our confusion and continued. "Maybe we can help him realize that he's not that much better than anyone else."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly are we gonna do that?"

"…without getting killed?" Kelsey added worriedly.

"I've got an idea." Grace said, clapping her hands together in excitement. "And don't worry Kels. Jack won't even know it's us."

"Well, lets hear it." I said, not really worried that Jack would get back at us.

"Jack only has the power of doing whatever he wants because everyone is afraid of him." She started as I leaned back against a tree trunk ready to listen. "And I think that he does everything he can to uphold his tough image…"

"You think?" Kelsey commented receiving annoyed glares from both me and Grace. A moment of silence followed before I turned to Grace again, nodding for her to continue.

"Anyways…" Grace began again. "That way he can keep on playing by his own rules and no one really dares to stand up against him. So everything would fall apart for him if people stopped being afraid of him."

"And how would we be able to cure everyone's fear of him?" I pointed out.

"We just need to get them to realize that we are all together much stronger than him alone. Beside the best way to cure fear is…"She put on a smile and raised her eyebrows, obviously expecting one of us to continue the sentence. Kelsey and I stood silent looking at each other, not knowing the answer. "I give you a clue," Grace said, smiling even wider. "Riddikulus!" Now our confused looks were exchanged with a 'you're nuts' kind of look. "C'mon guys" Grace let her head fall back in frustration. "Haven't you read Harry Potter?" Realizing that we wouldn't catch on anytime soon she started to explain, "Laughter. If we can get everyone to laugh at him he would totally lose his power."

"Are you saying we should make fun of him?" I asked, feeling a bit sceptical.

"Yeah…but more in the line of humiliation…" She answered, a sly look on her face. "Do you guys know he carries a pink teddy bear in his back pack?"

"No" Kelsey shook her head, trying to hold back a chuckle.

"It's true. Roy has seen it more than once. Jack's always very quick to hide it again if it would accidentally show."

"Really?" Kelsey seemed to have a hard time to believe her. "What kind of teenager guy would go around with a stuffed animal in his school bag?"

"Exactly my point." Grace said. "If that came out his whole reputation would be ruined."

It wasn't exactly the most genius idea, but I thought it could work. And I did like the fact that it wasn't too brutal and as far as I could see it would be pretty safe for us. We wouldn't break any school rules and no one could get angry at us, except for Jack of course…but it would be the entire school against him, so that wouldn't be much of a problem…

"Ok, I'm in." I said, standing up straight again. Grace smiled and turned to Kelsey.

"I guess I'm in too." Kelsey said a bit reluctantly.

"Great!"

The rest of the night we spent coming up with different ideas on how to spread the word. We figured that just telling people and spreading out what could be mistaken as just a rumour wasn't good enough. We needed proof and we soon came up with a plan to do something that people would surely remember…

~~~~_**Wings of Love**_~~~~

The time had gone by quickly and I realized that it was almost midnight. Claire would be here soon…

I had made up my mind to leave the party a little earlier in the hopes of meeting my aunt halfway. That way no one would see her and the risks of someone connecting her to me would be much slimmer…

"I gotta get going!" I yelled as we were back at Grace's house. The noise was unbelievably loud.

"Already?!" Grace pouted.

"Yeah, I've got things to do tomorrow so I can't stay up too late!" I half lied… I had things to do although none of them were really urgent. The big reason I didn't tell Grace my aunt Claire was coming to pick me up and I didn't want anyone to see was…well, because I hadn't even told her that my aunt existed…

"Ok! I'm glad you could come!" She said giving me a hug. "See you on Monday!"

"See ya!"

Wasting no time I jogged down the garden until I got to the trees. Willow Grove was the shortest way to get to town. I'd taken this route numerous times before and I was positive that I would find my way even now in the dark.

The music and the loud voices trying to be heard above it slowly died out the further into the deep forest I went. The moon was out tonight and even though it was only half it still lit up my path where it snaked around the trees. The fact that I was alone in the forest in the middle of the night didn't scare me at all. I was a pretty tough girl and things like that just didn't bother me. That was until I heard the most ear piercing scream coming from the woods. I stopped for a second, the hair on the back of my neck rising and every muscle in my body tense. The next second everything went deathly quiet again. I stood frozen, afraid to break the silence. What was that?

Suddenly the scream came again, stronger this time. Someone needed help. Without even thinking that I might put myself in danger I ran towards the sound, jumping tree roots and dodging branches. The screams sounding as if they were coming from a woman were getting louder and more intense. I must be really close now, I thought.

In my hurry I missed to see the object coming up from the ground and I accidentally shoved my foot into it. The object didn't move and I fell forward. At the same moment my body hit the dirt the screams stopped and everything around me went quiet…

* * *

**That was it. Sorry for the cliffy... This story is soon going to be turned upside down pretty soon...**

**I'm really gonna try my best to update the next chapter asap. But as I said before the other story that I'm working on has taken a lot of time. It's pretty popular and that's why I've been prioritising it. **

**Of course if this story gets more reviews, read counts, favourites and followers I will prioritising this one instead. So R&R and I'll hope I'll get chapter 5 up soon:)**

**/MJ**


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